getting there

It's that time of year.... the time of year when I design the clothing range for the company I used to work for. I used to love doing it back then....but I've moved on and, now I draw bunnies and birdies for a living, designing garments has become a bit of a chore... it takes sooo long and is mostly not very creative.
But today I finished a big chunk of it and can't do any more till after my meeting next week.....so I can get on with some nice baby graphics again, yay! 

On a positive note the range I designed last year looked fab and has now become my little man's winter wardrobe :-)

christmas in September? don't think so!

Spent about an hour and a half trawling round Toys R Us behind Jodie and her birthday money....but try as she might she could not find anything that she wanted that she didn't already have.
Eventually she bought a token Zhu Zhu hamster and we went out for tea.
On our way home Neil's sister texted to see what she wants for Christmas!!!
OMG!! It is September!!!
One of my pet hates is those annoying people who do all their Christmas shopping 3 months early then show off about it to the rest of us!
So I said I didn't know.
And I will continue to say that until the 1st of December he he!

birthday bunny

My little girl is 10 today!
Where did that time go?
She cried non stop for the first 6 months..... seems like only 2 minutes ago!
And now she's in double figures! ...And she doesn't cry so much :-)
Happy Birthday Jodie Pie xx

weekend calling!

Busy busy Saturday, packed loads in....so I'm now having a well deserved night off and a well deserved glass of rose! :-)

new boots!

....but the good side of working for yourself from home is that when it's suddenly freezing cold outside and you desperately need lovely new boots you can just ditch everything and go buy them! YAY!

work work work

It's very difficult when you work from home to get a good work/life balance.
Not doing very well at it at the mo.
So much work to do I feel guilty if I have a minute off ...and I can never just go home and forget about it.
Anyway, I'm afraid I haven't been very productive tonight.....apart from this little pic for my blog of course!

football crazy

The little man expressed an interest in playing football so Neil got him kitted out and took him to the training session for our local under 7's team.
He said he enjoyed it and wants to go every week.
Apparently though he wasn't really very interested in the game and spent his time in the goals studying the net and the goalpost....hmmmm

young at heart

Neil went to football and Jodie went to pony club so me and Alf went to visit Auntie Isabelle in her care home.
She's 91 but clearly doesn't realise... she kept asking why there were so many "bloody old women" about!
Seems like we're all still 21 on the inside :-)

save the date

How's a girl supposed to plan her 10th birthday celebrations when the blooming cinema peeps don't tell you what's showing and at what time ...till the very last minute?
I have had to make these.
And I really didn't have time to make these 'cos I have so much work on and everybody wants it like yesterday, arrghh!

top weeekend

I have got sooo much work to do next week and I really really wanted to get a head start tonight....but you know what? It's still the weekend and I really really can't be bothered.
I know I'm gonna regret it later but I had such a fab weekend and I just want to drag it out a bit longer!

house with no mouse

Me and the kids were all grumpy after school so neil made us go to the park with him. We walked back home over the fields and I saw a lovely house I've never seen before. It was massive and full of character with a beautiful dry stone wall and right next to it was a separate 3 car garage with massive room over the top. It overlooked lots of fields full of horses.
I want that house! I want the room above the garage to be my studio. I want a pony for Jodie which can live in the field.
I bet that house doesn't have a mouse!

mouse!

....so we've lived here for seven years but the people who we bought the house from - Betty and Geoff - lived here for 30 years. Geoff thought he was an expert in DIY... Betty also thought he was marvellous ... sadly he wasn't! It has taken us 7 years to get rid of his DIY disasters. 
Anyway when we bought the house the estate agent's leaflet informed us that the house had a "garden room". This was a rather grand description of the lean-to shed type construction at the back of the house but it had windows all round overlooking the garden so I claimed it as my studio. Turns out it was built by Geoff! (We know this because it consists of a million odd shaped bits of wood nailed together on top of a million different types of brick and stone with different size pieces of reclaimed glass for the windows....oh and on one of the windows is engraved in messy handwriting "Betty and Geoff 1985")
Well in true Geoff style there is a big hole at the bottom of one of the walls...designed so that their many cats could come and go as they pleased. Sadly it is still there and I have discovered that it also means mice can come and go quite happily!! 
Turns out they have moved into my studio and chewed up half my sewing threads and loads of fabric to make a nest.
Another Geoff disaster to put right...

catching up

Last night my lovely sister had the big little one and Neil's lovely sister took the little little one to stay in Sheffield overnight (ready for his birthday trip with her to Sundown today).

That left me with 3 hours alone to tidy up, do the ironing and get ready to go out!

Me n Neil went for a lovely curry... then to the pub... then home to watch X Factor on Sky+! 

Had a lovely lie in this morning then finished some of the rubbishy little jobs... Result!

focus!!!

I'm having trouble focusing (workwise, not going blind or anything...)
Got loads of crappy little jobs I need to do but really don't want to do....and I'm trying to build up a pile of work to send my agent but every time I start I get distracted by the other stuff....
Really need to focus on one thing at a time, I know I should get the rubbish jobs out of the way this week then start with nice stuff next week....but I just don't want to.
Anyway as a result I've got naff all done today !

back to school, back to work

The little people went back to school today... Jodie loved her first day at Middle School and Alf loved his new class in year 2.

....And of course I loved having the house to myself and the freedom to get on with some work at last!

night off

Went to a really sad funeral today. A friend's husband died of a brain tumour :-(
Realised you have to appreciate what you've got so I'm having the night off work and off to spend some quality time with my other half.
RIP Jonathon x